Word.ws English Dictionary

woodshed

US/ˈwʊdˌʃɛd/

woodshed noun: an enclosed, roofed structure, often an outbuilding, used primarily to store firewood.

Noun

woodshed (plural woodsheds)

  1. An enclosed, roofed structure, often an outbuilding, used primarily to store firewood.
  2. (informal) A place where punishments or reprimands are administered.
    • The State Department is incensed, and if this conference fails it will be the woodshed for three Central American presidents.1907 November 11, “Latin President’s Plot May Disarrange the Central American Peace Plans”, in New York Times
    • Were you ever taken to the woodshed? Did anyone say, “Stop disagreeing with the president”?2021 January 24, Donald G. McNeil Jr, “Fauci on What Working for Trump Was Really Like”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Verb

woodshed (third-person singular simple present woodsheds, present participle woodshedding, simple past and past participle woodshedded)

  1. (slang) To practice or rehearse using a musical instrument.
    • Recently, I have taken up the double bass again, but because time and neglect erode ability, calluses turn soft, and muscle memory fades, I need to woodshed (practice) to get back into shape and build up my chops.1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115
  2. (slang) To practice or rehearse a script.
    • In previous chapters, I've covered many ways to woodshed a script and dozens of techniques for bringing the words to life. Now, I'm going to suggest something completely different: Try performing your script completely cold the first time through.2023, James R. Alburger, The Art of Voice Acting
  3. To self-isolate in order to work on one's artistic development or to produce work without interruptions.
    • His latest novel sheds light on an émigré writer’s woodshedding period.2007 July 23, “A Free Life”, in Publishers Weekly

Forms of woodshed

Noun
pluralwoodsheds
Verb
third-person singular presentwoodsheds
present participlewoodshedding
past participlewoodshedded
pastwoodshedded

Origin of woodshed

From wood + shed.

Words formed from woodshed

Phrases with woodshed

Questions about woodshed

What does woodshed mean?
Woodshed means an enclosed, roofed structure, often an outbuilding, used primarily to store firewood.
What part of speech is woodshed?
Woodshed can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce woodshed?
Woodshed is pronounced /ˈwʊdˌʃɛd/ (US).
What is the plural of woodshed?
The plural of woodshed is woodsheds.

Words near woodshed in the dictionary

  1. Woodsfield
  2. woodsful
  3. woodsfuls
  4. woodshaving
  5. woodshavings
  6. woodshed
  7. woodshedded
  8. woodshedding
  9. woodsheds
  10. woodshifter
  11. woodshifters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: woodshed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-woodshed.ogg.

Cite this entry: “woodshed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/woodshed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.